It is well known to restrain an occupant in a seat by an automatically deployed shoulder belt extending diagonally across the upper torso and a lap belt extending across the lower torso.
Prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,229, Westrate, issued July 25, 1972, discloses such a restraint system in which the inboard ends of the lap and shoulder belts are mounted inboard the occupant seat. A control belt is suitably connected to the outboard ends of the lap and shoulder belts and is mounted on the lower rear corner of the vehicle door by a retractor. When the door is opened the control belt unwinds from the door and the generally outward and forward movement of the retractor with the door causes the control belt to move the lap and shoulder belts forwardly away from the seat to facilitate occupant ingress and egress.
It is also recognized in the prior art that the occupant ingress and egress condition of the belt can be further enhanced by providing an arm which is pivoted to the vehicle body and may be actuated to move the lap belt and/or shoulder belt even further forward than is otherwise provided by the swing geometry of the door. According to the prior art, the belt operating arms have been operated in response to movement of the door or have been operated by an electric motor or by manual effort of the seat occupant.
It would be desirable to provide a passive restraint belt system having a belt operating arm which is automatically operable in response to the presence or absence of an occupant weight upon the seat cushion to automatically move the arm and the restraint belt between the occupant restraint position and a stowed position facilitating occupant ingress and egress.